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NEW BABIES, NEW
WORKS, AND VISITORS

Former intern Beth
(Wohlberg) Casper (summer 2000) and her husband,
Michael, welcomed a baby boy on Dec. 22.
Eli, a healthy 9-pounder, "makes all sorts of
amazing noises," reports Beth. After Beth's internship, she had a
bout with breast cancer. When she recovered, she and Michael
climbed Mount Shasta to benefit research on breast cancer and the
environment. Now she's a reporter at the Statesman
Journal in Salem, Ore.

Writer and
HCN contributor Alan
Kesselheim has co-authored a new book, This
Common Secret, with Susan Wicklund
(Public Affairs, $24.95). Alan describes it as "the very personal
story of a doctor who has committed herself to a career helping
women with reproductive health issues." The book explores the
"dilemmas and difficulties routinely faced by women dealing with
unwanted pregnancies." Personal anecdotes and patient accounts give
a human face to the debate over abortion.

Composer
Michael Mauldin, who lives in Albuquerque,
writes music inspired by the beauty and spirit of New Mexico. He
recently sent us a note with a copy of his latest CD,
Enchantment: Three Meditations for Two Pianos:
"I hope one or more of the pieces will give you some pleasure."
Thanks for thinking of us, Michael.

Craig
Childs, a Southwest explorer and author who sometimes
writes for HCN (his latest story, "Phoenix Falling?", appeared last
April), recently turned up in the pages of the New York
Times. A Times reporter came to visit Craig and his
family in their rustic home outside nearby Crawford; she was awed
by the 900-foot monolith of Needle Rock, which looms over the
house: "... raw, dramatic, beautiful and menacing." She didn't
discern any raw menace in Craig, though, describing him as "Grizzly
Adams after a shampoo and trim."

Ninety-six-year-old
Leroy Lewis, a retired Army officer living in
nearby Grand Junction, Colo., recently sent us a note:
"Regretfully, I cannot subscribe as my age limits my reading
schedule." Leroy, who grew up on Rogers Mesa near
HCN's hometown, Paonia, describes wetlands and
springs that once teemed with waterfowl, muskrats and fish. "But
when one well-financed individual took over much of Rogers Mesa and
started drilling wells, the flow of water stopped. The fish
hatchery moved out, swamps (got) dry and dusty, and it was called
progress!"

Back in early November, Montana photographer
and filmmaker Bill Campbell came by with his
wife, Maryanne Vollers, to talk about
Wolves in Paradise, his latest documentary. The
film explores the challenges faced by ranchers in Paradise Valley,
Mont., as the wolf packs reintroduced into Yellowstone a decade ago
expand and begin to make their way out of the park. The film will
be released nationally this year; for more information, see
www.homefire.com/ Wolves.html. You can watch an excerpt on HCN's
Web
site